Scootercast Scooter Internet Radio

SHOW NOTES: Compared to last week, this week's riding has been all about the rain. Even the Seven hills Club ride last Sunday was marked by sprinkles and a few down pours. But of course that didn't stop the die-hard scooterists like myself who did turn out. I have an interview with musician Jason Reeves who has hooked up with Vespa for a westcoast ride and concert tour they are calling the Vespa Experiment and I have a few comments on last week's live streaming of the PoliniUSA cup from Atwater, CA.

SHOW NOTES: The riding here in Richmond has been fantastic, warm weather reaching into the 80s. I hope to be riding to work most this coming week. I have a interview with Harold Smith. He and his friend Graham have put together an impressive live video streaming site for scooter and moped racing. They are planning to broadcast the 2009 PoliniUSA starting this coming weekend.

SHOW NOTES: I have been noticing that a lot of scooter clubs are starting to advertise their spring and summer rallies. Here in Richmond we are looking forward to the Dogwood Classic, a scooter weekend in May that usually includes lots of food and drink. Stick around, I talk more about some of the other up coming rallies and I have an interview from England with Nick Bennett, the organizer of the European pinball championship tournament.

SHOW NOTES: It's been great riding weather here in the south and the 7 Hills Scooter Club ride this past Sunday was marked by a warm 70 degree day. I talk about that and play an interview with Jake Stept, who built an electric Vespa from scratch.

SHOW NOTES: It has been weeks since the last podcast and you may be wondering what happened. I was a little under the weather for a while, but other than that I have been vacillating back and forth thinking, "write damn it write!" I have been stock piling ideas and spent the past few weeks doing background work on a couple of shows coming up in the next month, but for the most part, it's been spring cleaning, polishing the scooters and waiting for some spring time riding weather. It finally seems to have come.

SHOW NOTES: I have all of my scooters running again. With a little help from Scoot Richmond, I finally got my favorite scoot, a pristine little red 1965 Vespa 180ss, running and took along Richmond's Riverside Drive. I also talk more about my upcoming return trip to Denver.

SHOW NOTES: I mentioned last week that I was making a quick trip out to Denver. It was a smooth trip for me, but I paused once again to reflect on how fateful life is when I woke on Friday morning and heard that a plane had crashed in New York. I talk more about that and share a few scooter stories from my short time in Denver.

SHOW NOTES: I mentioned last week that I have been pod casting for two years. Many of you wrote to say congratulation and how do you do it. It got me thinking and all I can say is that it's persistence. Maybe that is one of my better qualities. Come to think of it, maybe it also describes a necessary quality for anyone who is into scooting or at least those of us who are into vintage scooters.

SHOW NOTES: This show is a bit of a milestone marking my second full year of pod casting and blogging. To some of you that may not seem like a big deal, but for someone like me who is easily distracted, it represents a big responsibility. I owe you a great deal of thanks for encouraging me to continue. Thanks

SHOW NOTES: I really love January. It has to be one of the great months of the year for me, a time when everything at work comes together and culminates in a four week whirlwind of activity. It's something akin to the world's best double cheeseburger with a fudge Sunday chaser for dessert. I will give you a few more insights into my day job and of course throw in a few Internet scooter resources I have been checking out.

SHOW NOTES:  It's a new year and January has rolled around again. That means cold weather riding. I dont mean riding in cool weather, I mean the kind of cold weather riding that required some warm riding gear and special consideration for the changing conditions.

SHOW NOTES: For two weeks my hands were tied by the crash of my main desktop computer. I spent most of last week trying to cobble together a variety of old hardware and coax it back to life. Finally decided to take it to the computer man, who confirmed I had a dead hard drive. So, problem solved. Since then I have been building my podcasting infrastructure back up and organizing my files so I can get another show out.

SHOW NOTES: Last weeks show brought in more comments about buying scooters on the web and it has gotten me thinking more about the pros and cons of buying local when our scooter community seems to have gone global. Italk about that and pass on a few scooter web picks for finding holiday bling.

SHOW NOTES: It has been another two week break since the last show and I have been out to Denver and back, along with spending hours trying to keep a handle on work. I was lucky enough to visit Erico motor sports in Denver and put up a Qik video you can find on the website.

Shownotes: Talking about rusted, my new project is bad, but mot as bad as my moped was when I got it. Uship delivers direct to you from all over the US.

SHOW NOTES: Sorry about missing last week's show. Lots of changes at work so I have had very little time to write or poke around the Internet. Instead, all my free time has been spent working on my restoration. Just to keep you updated, not only am I in the home stretch with the moped rebuild, I have my next restoration project in the pipeline.

SHOW NOTES: How about a little break from all the political barrage? I have enjoyed retreating to the basement and my homemade paint booth, along with spending more time on my moped restoration. I will tell you more about that as well as a few tips on how to approach a restoration, if you are brave enough to even be considering it.

SHOW NOTES: I found a new source for new old stock parts for my Ducati moped, I talk more about that and bring you the second part of my interview with Ed Reggi, from the St Louis Scooter Club.

SHOW NOTES: I finally made it to another Sunday ride with the 7hills scooter club. In addition to that, I was able to spend most of Saturday working on the freshly powder coated frame of my project moped. I'll post some pictures of that on the scootercast website. This show includes the first part of a special interview with Ed Reggi, a St Louis scooter legend and renaissance man.

Show Notes: What a busy week this has been. In the past week we have had an automatic scooter workshop at scootrichmond, I spent time rebuilding the 50cc motor for my 1965 Ducati and on top of all that, I was trying to keep up with the Cannonball scooter run, which wrapped up this past Saturday.

Shownotes: Rob Taylor talks about the first five days of the Cannonball scooter run, which has included beautiful rides, crashes and tickets.

Interview with 2008 Cannonball Scooter riders Rob Taylor, Patrick Owens and Bobo

SHOW NOTES: We are just back from Italy, still trying to catch-up on sleep, and dreaming about the great time we had in Sicily and Florence. Although we were in Rome for a few days, it really was just a stop over between coming and going. Most of the time was spent relaxing with friends and scooting around Florence. If you had been following me on twitter, you would know that we did make it to the Piaggio museum. On this show I will be telling you more about the museum, but for those of you who would like a little more information, I am going to tell you more about the history of Piaggio and Vespa in Italy.

Show NOtes: This episode is coming from Florence Italy, we have just come from Ragusa which is in the southern part of the island of Sicily. It was a week of family dinners, celebration and of course lots and lots of conversation. Since I am at best, conversational in Italian, it means listening a lot and asking for things to slowly be repeated. But everyone is very patient and truly seem to be happy to see us.

SHOW NOTES: I have been packing, getting ready to leave for Italy in a few days. Everything is in place except some last minute decisions on what kind of equipment I am going to take for my mobile setup. There is another long distance ride coming called Scooter Quest, but it isn't just the same old long distance riding story. These guys are going to use streaming technology to document the ride and give you a chance to participate while they are traveling.

SHOW NOTES: Almost everything in my life lately has had a scooter connection, even my dreams. Picture this, I am riding a vintage green Vespa GS thorough the Tuscan hillside with yellow fields and mountain top hill-towns all around. The sun is warm on my face and then I realize, this has to be a dream, the scooter is purring along with that smooth 2 stroke buzz and it isn't missing a beat, popping or back firing like my real scooters. Well for me it was a dream, but not for long. In two weeks, Marcel and I head out for a two week Italian reunion in Sicily and Florence. This week I will tell you a little about the trip, but mostly about Alix from PEACE scooter ride and her return to Richmond after riding over 22,000 miles on her Buddy 125.

SHOW NOTES: This is a big week here in Richmond. Alix Bryan returns from her PEACE scooter ride and a big party is planned for Saturday, August 9th at ScootRichmond. I'll tell you more about that and I also have a few comments about riding safer.

SHOW NOTES: Every week I sit down to plan the show and start by asking myself if I have anything to say. Some weeks are better than others and I would say that this week has been a pretty good one. I've gotten a few emails I am going to share with you and then I'll tell you so much about Amerivespa, everyone's going to think you were there, by the way, did I mention, I wasn't there either

SHOW NOTES: Last Friday I dropped off the Ducati 50 frame to get it powder coated and today I sent off a bunch of parts to be chromed, and I didn't blink and eye at the cost. I'll tell you more about that, give you an update on Alix Bryan and fill the rest of the time talking about several new scooter websites.

SHOW NOTES: Glad you could tune in. On this episode I have a book report, just as promised last week. It's Pete Davies newly published Lambretta Bible. In addition, I will catch you up on some automotive horse trading I have been doing and let you know more about why I am sitting here with an empty 3g Iphone case.

SHOW NOTES: Hope you all had a pleasant holiday, for those of you in the US it was the 4th of July, independence day and for our friends north of the boarder it was Canada Day, July 1st. It has been great weather for scooting in Virginia, in between the big rain storms, but the advantage is the heat has been moderated a bit by the clouds and rain. Last episode I talked about scooter shops in Denver and would like to apologize to ERICO motor sports. For some reason I keep referring to them as Enrico, maybe because that sounds so much more Italian. This week I am going to talk about a number different blog posts and introduce all you Lambretta fan boys to a newly released book from Veloce publishing.

SHOW NOTES: It has only been a few days since I returned from visiting Denver, possibly one of the best scooter towns in the US. Although it was a quick trip, I took part of the afternoon on Saturday to visit three of the city's best scooter shops. Each has a distinctly different feel and it has prompted my to pen a few observations on the scooter scene

SHOW NOTES: I am back from the Pacific Northwest with my mother in tow and we have been enjoying the Richmond weather where it has creped easily into the 90s almost everyday this week. I have notice that every time I turn around there is another scooter on the road and many of them seem to be the Kymcos and Genuine Buddys. I am getting more emails from listeners who are newby scooterist looking to buy their first scooters. Alix from the Peace Scooter ride and I have been trying to connect. Over the past month she has made her way out to the west coast and I tracked her down in San Fransico where she was meeting up with friends and attending a local rally. Mevio {Mevio-a9929f73a9e94ccafcb68c0dab9371a3}

Show notes: I have been wondering for the past week what to say about Vespadition. Knowing that there is sometimes it's hard to draw the line between what is true and what is not, especially on the Internet, I have toyed with saying nothing or reporting on everything being said, but have decided that I'd rather than do neither, and instead talk about the scooter community. I have also decided that there are many other more interesting things going on so you will also hear about Steve Guzman, LS motor sports and several other tidbits from the scooter blogging world.

Show Notes:  If you have been following my blog you know I have had a few interruptions in my regular routine. The first included several out of town trips that took me to the Virginia Beach. The downside was that I got sick and it has taken another week for me to get back up to speed. In the mean time all your emails, comments and the scooter news has been backing up and backing up. So tonight, I'll try to do some catch up and there is allot to catchup on. I tell you more about scooter news from the internet tubes and talk a little more about my plans for June which include a trip back home to Washington state and hopefully some new scooter shop adventures. Music this time is from Sean Costello

Show Notes: As usual, this has been a week of playing catch up having spent several days last week and the weekend in NYC. As I mentioned in the last show, it was well worth it. In addition, this truly is spring time here in Virginia and I have been out riding my scooters any chance I get. You may have noticed on 2 stroke buzz and other blog sites, that Alix left Richmond this past Friday to start her three month odyssey, scooting around the US. I did a short interview with her down at Scoot Richmond on Friday

Show Notes: I'm back from  New York where I went to my second Podcamp. Like last year, it was a great opportunity to meet podcasters that I have been listening to and get new ideas for keeping the show fresh. I thought it a bit prophetic, that on my first morning in NY, I walk out of the hotel and after grabbing a cup of coffee, I run into a beautiful black Vespa LX 150 along with several other smaller scooters. It made me think about how scooters are becoming more and more common and maybe this scooter podcast has some relevance.

SHOW NOTES: I'm back from after spending a few days in Key West, sun burned yet relaxed and refreshed. Marcel and I celebrated our aniversary and I had yet another birthday. But all is good, we spent the time sitting on the beach, sampling all the fresh seafood and of course scooting around the island. I'll tell you a little more about the trip, but more interestingly I have an interview with Iggy Granger from England. Now you may say you don't know Iggy, but if you read Scootering or any of the other scooter magazines, you have probably read one of his reviews. His new book is all about the Scooter Lifestyle in Europe.

SHOWNOTES: Spring continues to blossom here in Richmond and that means both warm and cold days. I feel sorry for our friends up north who by this time must be praying for spring to come. Marcel and I will be heading farther south this week to spend a few days in Key West Florida taking in the sun and generally lounging around. On this show I'll tell you more about the trip, about my plans for all the spare parts I have been collecting and we review a few of this week's scooter blogs.

SHOW NOTES: It has been a beautiful week for scooting here in Richmond with 70 and 80 degree days. In addition, I finally got to a Seven Hills scooter club meeting and heard about the local Dogwood Delirium Rally. But the highlight of my week was speaking with Alix Bryan from Charlottesville who is planning to go out on the second half of her PEACE ride in just a few weeks. She will be covering 20,000 and has plenty to say about that, in addition to all kinds of other things ethereal and scooter related.

SHOWNOTES: Last week when I put up the link to Vespadition, I noticed that several of the posts that included links to Peter Moore and Christian Bauer's websites had fallen off the front page of the website. One way of fixing this is to increase the number of posts that appear, but then the page gets to be very long and who wants to have to scroll and scroll just to find a link. So I have been considering changing up the format of the site and plan to keep a picture link to my most recent guests right at the top of the page. Another website issue that plagues podcasters is the question of monetization. For the common folk, this mean "how do you defray the cost of bandwidth.? But before I head off in this or any other direction, I want to know what you think. Are you interested in this kind of this stuff, you know t-shirts, buttons and other good SCTRCST crap. I would hate to do anything to make you, my audience, feel like I was just pimping for pennies.

SHOWNOTES: Peter "Matua" from Vespadition talkes about his iron butt ride plans. If you haven't hear about the guy doing the 30,000 mile ride, listen to the podcast. In addition, I have had time to get out and ride my new Vespa GTS and still keep up with some of the blog world on Internet. I guess that means that my life has settled down a bit, work has become more manageable and I even have more time to spend at home, in the garage and in front of the computer.

SHOWNOTES: I have been thinking that the past two episodes have raised the bar for this show. How can I top speaking with Vespa travel author Peter Moore and follow-up by doing a conference call with Philippine Vespa bloggers Bimbo Isidro and John Rana. I have laid back a bit as my usual weekend ritual of reading, writing and recording has taken a back seat to lounging, watching the speed channel and tinkering out in the garage. I took time to install a new M7 air intake on the Mini Cooper S, which gives it more punch and a loud wining sound and even found time to hunt down a Craig's list Vespa. Check out the New Scooter story on this episode.

SHOWNOTES: I hope you got a chance to listen to last week's episode. Vespa travel author Peter Moore and I spoke about traveling, scooters and the process of writing, If you missed it I highly recommend that you go back and listen. Once again, this week I have some old friends back. I spoke with both Bimbo Isidro and John Rana, Vespa bloggers from the Philippines. The conference type call was a opportunity to catch up with both Bimbo and John and talk about what has been happening on a totally different front in the scooting world.

SHOWNOTES: This is episode 50. Yes, that is the famous Vespa travel author Peter Moore. Several weeks ago he talked with me from London. Although it seems unlikely, especially if you listen to the scooter podcast, you may have never heard of Peter. On his website you will find you have been missing one of the best literary travel experiences and you can also get a scooter fix. You have missed No Shitting in the Toilet, The Wrong Way Home, for those the Vespa fans Vroom with a View. Peter is an humorous Australian who has a great story to tell about growing up infatuated with the scooters and if you are at all like me, you will be fascinated with his how he was able to lived out his dream of riding about and around Italy for months on a Vespa.

SHOWNOTES: It is hard to believe, another milestone. It was just a few weeks ago I spoke about having started scootercast a year earlier. Now, I am on the verge of the 50th episode. In this show I am going to talk more about what is in store for that show, about some new riding gear and also about the developments with my blown Vespa Sprint.

Show notes: If you have been listening to the show for any length of time, you have heard me talk about my three Vespa beauties. My first is a 1981 P200e with a sidecar. It is still my main ride and is always a eye catcher because it has a California sidecar. Another is my classic 1965 Vespa 180ss, a Red Italian beauty that I pamper, that sleeps under a blanket, the one that gets a gentle soapy sponge bath, never the direct spray of the hose. An then there is my little '67 150 Sprint, which I finally will say, I ride the piss out of her. I'm sure you know the riding technique, crank it wide open and see if you can get just a few more miles per hour out of her. Although I have mentioned it in passing a few times, I have tried not to bring too much attention to the fact that my Sprint is one of those...yes you know what I mean, dare I even say it? A Vietnamese import. She came to this country as a refugee almost 10 years ago, just when the first bikes were making their way from overseas. It wasn't easy to get her through customs, but she made her way to Denver and lived for a time in Texas with me, until I brought her to the east coast. She is a long way from home. Podshow PDN {podshow-a9929f73a9e94ccafcb68c0dab9371a3}

Shownotes: I don't know what more I can ask for, it was almost seventy degrees here today. Having worked so much in January, I had a nice afternoon of riding planned. But as you might expect, work again, interfered with recreation and I spent the afternoon at the Virginia legislative building, listening to the big wigs argue about money. But then again, such is the business of the people and I did sign on to this gig.What had really gotten me hyped up, was another beautiful Virginia weekend. It was in the sixties and just right for wrenching a bit on my scooters and spending part of Sunday riding out in the country. You may not remember, but I live in Richmond, a small city hoping to fool everyone else into thinking it is a big city. The true is, we operate like any other small town in America. Plenty of hopes and dreams mixed up with lots of southern tradition, small town political bickering and easy access to some of the most beautiful countryside in the United States.

SHOWNOTES: You may not know that this is year to the day that I launch the Scootercast web site and posted the first podcast. It is an amazing milestone given that I always wonder if I can keep it going beyond the next few months. Much of the shows success and my persistence has to do with you the audience who have given me lots of encouragement and direction. Along with "don't do that?, you have suggested everything from audio improvements to topics like long distance riding, purchasing a scooter, winter riding, rallies and of course music. It seems you either like the music or don't, everyone has an opinion. So this is the point at which I must pause and thank a few supporters. First to thanks Chelsea over at ScootRichmond. Chelsea was the first person to submit to the rigor of my amateur questions along with my bumbling remote recording skills. She has continued to be a supporter of the show along with Dave Munn and all the folks at ScootRichmond. Second, thanks to Steve Williams from Scooter in the Sticks. Steve has also been on the show and has been for me and many other bloggers, a great literary and content inspiration. Over the past year I have spoke to or exchanged emails with dozens of scooter bloggers, who all point to Steve as an influencing factor in their own development. He is both a gracious individual and a talented writer.

SHOWNOTES: Steve Guzman from the Scooter Scoop sounds over the moon about his new job with Italjet. It also seems that the rush of preparing for an upcoming Indianapolis Dealer Expo next month, making it tough to track him down for a full length interview. He has assured me that we will talk and at that point we'll hear a whole lot more about what the LS Motorsports and Diamo. The month of January is always a non-stop marathon for me. Here in Virginia, it the time the legislature is in session and does it's work. Like most of you, I have my own escapes and one of those rejuvenating activities is scooting. But since bragging last week about our balmy weather, the weather gods have struck back with a vengeance. Today it is cold, in the 20's, so no riding for me. I have done a little investigating into the problems I am having with my Vespa Sprint and will need to deliver it to Scoot Richmond for some serious repair.